We had a relaxing winter break. Mark had the whole second week off with us and it was so nice to just hang around the house together.
Mark and the boys watched all 6 Star Wars movies. 1 each day and then he took Nolan and Heath to see the new Star Wars movie in the theater. They are OBSESSED!
For New Years Eve we partied at the Leensvaarts house! They sure know how to throw a party!
The theme was "Drinking around the World". Each couple had to choose a country and then plan food, drinks, and entertainment for their location.
We had the BEST time!
We started with the Leensvaarts in Italy. We had delicious angel hair pasta with sausage and peppers and garlic bread. We drank Cianti and Prosecco.
Mandy had music playing for each country we visited. Mark shared a slow dance with Nora in Italy. The romance was in the air.
And then we chose partners to see who could create the tallest spaghetti and marshmallow structure.
Mandy and Mark won!
Rick and I were the least successful. Ha! We each built a structure and then we were going to connect them at the end. Only time ran out and when we put ours together, they didn't match up so well. But we got an A for effort.
Meanwhile the kiddos were all partying down in the basement! They had a movie marathon and played with just about every toy in the house. They have the best time being together!
Next…we headed to Japan.
We picked up sushi and sake and Japanese beer for our meal.
Little did I know that Mark had planned to transform into the Karate Kid for this stop.
He taught us how to count form 1-10 in Japanese.
This is an important skill to know when doing Sake Bombs! Ha!
Ichi, Ni, San!
And we did some Karaoke too!
After Japan we traveled to Mexico with the VanEps' next.
We ate delicious chips and a salsa/queso dip and had margs!
Gotta love a good marg with glowing ice cubes!
I sent this pic to my BFF Rowan! Olè!
We played a drinking dice game called Mexicali! At this point in the night I don't think that many of us could focus on the rules too carefully. But it was FUN!
Our final stop of the night was Germany with the Krauths. We had "German" American chocolates..hee her! We drank a warm German wine and played this traditional Christmas game.
You roll a die and if you get a six you have to put on a hat, scarf, and mittens. Then you have to use a fork and knife to try to cut open a bar of chocolate that has been double and triple wrapped and taped in newspaper.
The die gets passed around the table and anyone who rolls needs to suit up and give it a try. If you got to chocolate you had to quickly eat it. It was very funny! But no one wanted to win. We were all so full at this point. But we laughed a lot!
And then it was midnight! I was happy to usher in another new year with this handsome fella! What a Rockin' New Years Eve.
We spent the night and then woke up the next morning and headed to pick up McDonalds for breakfast. Gotta love a good greasy breakfast after a night of indulgence! The boys love a good McDonalds breakfast every once in awhile too!
Here are some other randoms from life lately...
Dave & Busters Night with the Kakos & Warren clans!
A sweet little writing assignment that Nolan brought home.
Testing out his new sleeping bag! And shooting me of course.
Dino Discovery Eggs from Uncle T and Auntie Laura...
Oh man. These were VERY fun but also VERY messy! We were not expecting what these little eggs entailed.
They were all very focused as they dug in. It took quite a while.
Nolan dug his out first!
Then Brooks got his out next.
And then finally Heath.
They loved this fun project. And don't worry Tyler & Laura…we will be returning the favor someday. Just wait.
The boys also did a lot of Legos over break as well.
They are so independent with Legos now which makes it nice for Mark & I!
A little surprise from Mark! They were SO beautiful! Costco has the BEST flowers!
A random selfie with my big guy!
Target run with Brooks!
He is my shopping buddy!
We also worked on his birthday thank you notes over break. If you zoom in on this pic you can see the funny words he came up with to describe his gifts and his loved ones. He was so thoughtful in choosing the perfect words for each one. They made me laugh.
One night before bath time this crazy kid made us LOL! He had put on 2 pairs of undies that day and didn't realize it until bedtime! Love him!
And then before we knew it...
We were back to school! I had an extra day off, so it was nice to be home to send them off to school that day. I got a lot of things done around the house and planned for my week back in the classroom as well.
I sure love these squirts and treasure any time off that I have with them.
